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New Orleans still coping with aftermath of Hurricane Katrina

by Brand & Martínez

An empty casket honoring children killed by Hurricane Katrina is taken by horse-drawn carriage after a service at St. Paul's Church of God in Christ in the Lower Ninth Ward in New Orleans, Louisiana.Mario Tama/Getty Images

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Seven years ago this week, Hurricane Katrina stuck the Gulf Coast. It's one of the deadliest disasters in U.S. history, and it left more than 1,800 people dead from the storm and the flooding that followed.

For residents of New Orleans, Katrina left homes, streets and sometimes even entire neighborhoods in ruin. This was especially true for the Lower Ninth Ward, already one of the city's poorest areas.

It was in during the first months after the storm that writer Daniel Wolff started making regular trips to that neighborhood.

His new book, "The Fight for Home: How Parts of New Orleans Came Back," follows residents as they struggle to rebuild their lives. Wolff told me the idea came after he and documentary film maker Jonathan Demme saw the destruction first hand. Wolff will reading from his new book at Vroman's in Pasadena tonight at 7 p.m.

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About Brand & Martínez

Brand & Martínez, exclusively on 89.3 KPCC, 89.1 KUOR and 90.3 KVLA, captures the spirit of the West in a conversational, informal, witty style and examines the cultural issues people are buzzing about. Hosted by Madeleine Brand and A Martínez, and produced by Kristen Muller, Steve Proffitt and Sanden Totten, the show includes regular segments like Weird L.A. - highlighting a person, place or thing that you've never heard about, but probably should; Parenting on the Edge - a weekly discussion on the challenges and pitfalls of raising kids; as well as regular contributors like Luke Burbank, Rico Gagliano, Brendan Newnam and John Moe to help dissect culture, technology and business news.